Sydney start-up opens factory for latex-free condoms

Factory open, two rounds of capital

Eudaemon Technologies has opened a manufacturing facility in Annandale and launched a $10 million funding round, after closing an oversubscribed $4.5 million seed.^[1] The Sydney medtech company is producing a latex-free condom from a hydrogel material it spent more than a decade developing.

The Annandale plant is the first manufacturing facility Eudaemon has operated, and is producing a product that, the company says, has not been made before at commercial scale.^[1] Nick Northcott, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder, said the company had worked through the science, engineering and manufacturing required to reinvent the condom over more than a decade, doing much of that work quietly. Northcott said Eudaemon had developed the material, built the machines, tested the product and worked out how to manufacture something that had not been made before, and now had its facility operating in Sydney with fresh capital and a clear path towards commercial launch.^[1]

What the product is

Eudaemon's hydrogel condom is 50 per cent water, latex-free and designed to replicate the mechanical and thermal properties of human tissue, giving it inherent lubrication and hypoallergenic performance.^[1] The material traces to University of Wollongong researchers who received a Grand Challenges grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2013 to develop a next-generation condom platform.^[3]

The Gates Foundation's Grand Challenges initiative launched Round 12 on 5 September 2013, calling specifically for research into a next-generation condom.^[3] That research eventually became the material at the centre of Eudaemon's product, and an initial clinical study of the technology has since been completed.^[1]

Public funding and patent position

NSW Health's Medical Devices Fund granted $1 million to the project in 2018 and a further $4.035 million in 2022, bringing total NSW Health support to $5.035 million.^[2] Eudaemon holds 61 granted patents globally, including in the United States and China.^[1]

The patent portfolio and public grant history form a central part of Eudaemon's pitch to private investors as it seeks the additional $10 million. Bushletter could not independently verify the company's financial figures or patent count, which come from the company's own release.

Consumer campaign and the road to 2028

Alongside the funding announcement, Eudaemon released its first consumer campaign, developed by creative agency ST JULES. Matt Knapp from ST JULES said Eudaemon provided rich material for the campaign.^[1]

Northcott said the company was ready to start introducing Eudaemon to consumers and building the audience it hopes will eventually buy the product.^[1] Eudaemon is targeting a commercial launch in 2028, with Australia and the United States listed as priority markets, and did not specify a closing date for the current $10 million round.